The Pursuit of Happiness Rulebook

We all have a common desire - the desire for happiness.
As we build our life, taking steps towards the pursuit of happiness, we
come closer to the realization that happiness lies in the pursuit.
The Pursuit of Happiness is a game in which you take a character from
birth and you live the life you always wanted. You take on projects, you
buy items, you get jobs, you establish relationships, you raise families.
The possibilities are endless.
This is your life.
How much will you be able to achieve in just one lifetime?
1. COMPONENTS
156 Tokens
180 Cards
36 Knowledge
Tokens
36 Creativity
Tokens
36 Influence
Tokens
PR O
44 Coin
Tokens
JECT
60 Projects
ITEM
- AC T
IVIT
Y
60 Items &
Activities
Jobs
n
Part
er
Life
goal
18 Jobs &
12 Partners & 10 Life Goals 10 Child Traits 8 Player Aids
1 Cover Card 1 Cover Card
53 Wooden Cubes
3 Unavailable
Action Tokens
1 First Player
Marker
1 Game Board
8 Track Indicators
4 Long Term Happiness
Markers
40 Level Indicators 1 Round Marker
36 Wooden Hourglass Markers (4 colors x 9)
1 Rulebook
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2. SETUP
This setup is for a 2-4 player game. For the differences in a solo game look at page 16.
Place the game board in the middle of the table so
that everyone can have easy access.
Separate the Project, Item - Activity, Job and Partner
cards in 4 piles, shuffle them and place them next to the left
side of the board, leaving space for their discard piles.
Place the Jobs Cover Card on top of the Jobs pile and the
Partners Cover Card on top of the Partners pile.
Each player chooses a color and takes 6 Hourglass
markers (leave the rest nearby),
2 Track indicators and
a Long-Term Happiness (LTH)
marker of that color.
Then, all players place 1 indicator on the
Short-Term Happiness track, at the central
space, 1 indicator on the Stress track,
on the indicated space, and the LTH
marker on the LTH track, on the 0 space.
SYMBOLS
2
Knowledge
Creativity
Influence
Money
Good Health
Short Term
Happiness
(STH)
Long Term
Happiness
(LTH)
Stress
Relax
Hourglass
Marker
Shuffle the Life Goal cards and draw as many as the number of players.
Place them face-up near the board so that all players can see them.
Place the Round marker on the
Teen space on the Round track.
T ake the 3 Unavailable Action
tokens and place them on
the board, to cover the 'Get
Job', 'Start Relationship' and
'Overtime' spaces.
The oldest player gets
the First Player token.
Shuffle the Child
Trait cards and
deal 2 to each
player. Each player
chooses 1 to keep
and returns the
other to the box.
Then, they take in
front of them the
resources listed on
the card they kept.
Each Child Trait also
grants an ability to
the player which
he can use as many
times as he wants
during the game.
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3. GAMEPLAY
1. Round Overview
The Pursuit of Happiness is played over a series of rounds, each one representing a period in the players’ lives.
Each round consists of 3 Phases:
yy Upkeep Phase
yy Action Phase
yy End of Round Phase
Upkeep Phase
yy At the beginning of the Upkeep Phase, advance the Round marker by 1 space (ignore this in the first round). If this
causes players to get Stress ( P see 'Entering Old Age' on page 14) move the players' Stress Indicators accordingly.
yy Discard all the cards from the board and draw new cards from each pile, placing them face up on the corresponding
spaces:
Projects: Draw 3 cards in a 2-3 player game and 4 cards in a 4 player game.
Items-Activities: Draw 3 cards in a 2-3 player game and 4 cards in a 4 player game.
Jobs: Draw as many cards as the number of players.
Partners: Draw as many cards as the number of players.
In the first round of the game (the
"Teen" round), all players are still
teenagers, hence some actions are
not yet available: Do not draw any
cards from the Job and the Partner
piles.
The Job and Partner cards are
double-sided - that's why there are
cover cards on top of their piles.
When you need to draw new Partner
cards, do so by drawing from the
bottom of the piles.
Example of cards drawn in a 2-player game
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LIBRA
If at any time, one of the piles runs out of cards, shuffle its discard pile and form a new pile.
yy If a player’s indicator on the Stress track is not in the central blue section, that player gains or loses Hourglass
markers for the duration of the round, as shown on the space he is located in.
yy Each player counts the total number of Projects, Jobs and Partners in front of him. If he has more than 3, he gains
1 Stress for each one after the 3rd. In addition to that, if a player has 2 or more Partners in front of him, he gains 1
Shelf
Stress for each one beyond the first.
yy E ach player looks at the cards he has in front of him (Items, Jobs and Partners) and checks to see if they have any
upkeep costs. If they do, he pays those costs and gets the corresponding rewards.
A player may pay his upkeep costs in any order he wants. He may even use the rewards from one
card’s upkeep to pay the cost of another card.
If a player is unable or unwilling to pay the upkeep cost for a card in front of him, that card is
immediately discarded, the player gets 1 point of Stress and loses 1 point of Short Term
Happiness (STH) ( P see 'Short Term Happiness Track' on page 15).
Wall
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Example of an Room
Upkeep Cost: The
player 2has to pay
3 coins and gets
3 Knowledge as a
reward
Action Phase
The player with the First Player token goes first. He takes one of his Hourglass markers and places it on one of the
available action spaces on the board or on a card in front of him ( P see 'Board Actions' on page 6 and 'Card Actions' on page 12).
He performs the corresponding action and then play goes to the player on his left.
When a player performs an action on the board, if there is already one or more of his Hourglass markers on the action's
space, he takes 1 Stress.
If at any time a player is left without any Hourglass markers, he no longer plays in the round and play goes to the next
player on his left. When all the players have used all of their Hourglass markers, the round ends - proceed to the End of
Round phase.
End of Round Phase
When the round ends, the players perform the following in order:
yy Gain additional rewards from Group Projects ( P see 'Group Projects' on page 7).
yy Set aside Single-Round Projects and Group Projects.
yy Take back the Hourglass markers from the board and from the cards in front of you. Return any Hourglass markers
taken due to the 'Overtime' action.
yy Determine next round’s First Player based on the position on the STH track. The player furthest on the track gets
the First Player token. In case of a tie, the player among those tied furthest from the current First Player (going
clockwise) gets the token.
yy Return all the Indicators on the STH track to the central space.
At the end of the first round, remove the 3 'Unavailable Action' tokens from the board - the 3 actions will now be
available to the players. Similarly, at the end of the last Adult round, place an 'Unavailable Action' token on the
'Overtime' action space.
Please note, that the Indicators on the Stress track DO NOT move when the round ends - they remain where they are.
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ITEM
2. Board actions
 Study / Play / Interact
There are 3 resources in the game:
Knowledge, Creativity and Influence.
When you perform one of these 3 actions on the board,
you get 3 of the corresponding resources:
yy Study: Gain 3 Knowledge
yy Play: Gain 3 Creativity
yy Interact: Gain 3 Influence
 Temp Job
When you perform this action, you get 3 Money.
 Take Project
When you perform this action, choose one of the available Projects on the board, pay the
required cost and place it in front of you (the exact cost that you need to pay depends on the
type of Project you take - see below). Then, draw a new card from the pile to replace on the
board the Project you took. You have 3 "slots" in front of you in which Projects, Jobs and Partners
are put. If all 3 slots are filled, you may still get additional cards but any Projects taken after that
cause you to get 1 Stress. In addition, if at the beginning of the round you have more than 3
Projects, Jobs and Partners (in total) in front of you, you get 1 Stress for each card over 3.
There are 3 types of Projects in the game: Basic, Single-Round and Group Projects.
Basic Projects
Basic Projects signify projects you decide to take on and advance at your own pace, throughout your lifetime.
Project's Name
Project's Category
Level's Number
Level's Name
Level's Reward
Level's Cost
The Project's Category is not used. It is there for thematic purposes only. The letters correspond to the following
categories:
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Α: Arts
B: Business
C: Culture
H: Health
P: Politics
S: Social
T: Technology & Science
When you take a Basic Project in front of you, you have to pay its Level 1 (L1) cost. You then put a black cube on the L1
part of the card as a reminder and get the L1 reward.
Example: John decides to take a Project. He places his Hourglass marker on the Take Project action space and takes
the 'Act In Play' Project in front of him. He pays 1 Influence (the L1 cost), puts a black cube on the L1 part of the card,
and gains 2 Creativity. He then draws a new Project to replace the one he took on the board.
A Basic Project can be later further advanced to the next levels on the card ( P See 'Card Actions' on page 12).
Single-Round Projects
Single-Round Projects represent undertakings that you work on for a specific period of time in your life, like competitions
or tournaments.
Single-Round
Project Indicator
Project's Name
Project's Category
Level's Number
Level's Name
Level's Reward
Level's Cost
When you take a Single-Round Project in front of you, choose any one of the 4 levels, pay that level's cost and get the
corresponding rewards. Unlike Basic Projects, you may not advance a Single-Round Project to another level. Also, at the
end of the round, it will be removed from in front of you and set aside (it will still count as a completed Project).
Example: Anna sees a Single-Round Project that she likes, so she decides to take it. She places her Hourglass
marker on the Take Project action space and takes the 'Singing Festival' Project in front of her. She decides to go
for the 3rd level so she pays 2 Knowledge and 5 Creativity, and she gains 1 coin and 4 LTH.
Group Projects
Project's Name
Group Project Indicator
Project's Category
Role's Name
Role's Cost
Role's Immediate Reward
Additional Reward (based on number of roles)
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Group Projects are Projects all players may participate in.
When you take a Group Project in front of you, you choose one of the 4 available roles. You then take the Hourglass
marker you used for the action and you place it on the card, covering that role. You pay the role’s cost and you take the
corresponding immediate reward.
Group Projects are special since several players may participate in the same Project. As soon a player gets a Group Project
in front of him, any player may use the Take Project action to place his Hourglass marker on that player's Group Project
taking another role, instead of taking a Project card from the board. A player may even take a second role later in the
same round, but no more than that - the rest of the roles will have to be taken by other players.
At the end of the round, depending on the number of roles that have been covered, all the players that participated
gain an additional reward. More specifically, for each role a player has covered in a Group Project, he gains all the
rewards listed on the bottom of the card, up to the number of roles that were covered. The Project then is set aside with
the other completed Projects of the player who initiated it.
Example: Mary decides to take a Group Project. She places her Hourglass marker on the Take Project action
space and takes the Magazine project in front of her. She decides to be a writer for the magazine so she takes the
Hourglass marker she used and places it on top of the Writer role. She pays 3 Knowledge and 2 Creativity
and gains 1 LTH and 3 Influence. John, in his turn, decides to join the Project and take the role of the
editor. He uses the Take Project action space, covers the Editor role then with his Hourglass marker and pays 3
Knowledge and 2 Influence, gaining immediately 2 LTH. Later in the round, Mary decides to take the role of the
photographer as well. She takes the Take Project action, uses that Hourglass marker to cover the Photographer role,
pays 3 Creativity and 2 Influence and gains 2 LTH.
At the end of the round, the players check the Group Projects for additional rewards. Since there was a total of 3
roles covered, for each participating role they covered the players will get 1 coin, 1 LTH and 2 Influence. John had
only one role covered, so he will take just that - 1 coin, 1 LTH and 2 Influence. Since Mary had 2 roles covered she
takes twice these rewards - 2 coins, 2 LTH and 4 Influence. She then sets aside the Project along with the rest of her
completed Projects, since she was the one who initiated it.
Please note that since a player moves his Hourglass marker from the Take Project action space onto the Group
Project, he may perform the Take Project action again during the same round, without taking Stress. However, if a
player already has one of his Hourglass markers on the action space when he gets a Group Project, he will get 1 Stress
- the Hourglass marker is first placed on the action space and then moved on the card.
 Spend
When you perform this action, take one of the available Items or Activities on the board
and choose the level at which you want to buy it. Pay the cost for the level you chose, get the
corresponding reward and place the card in front of you. Then draw a new card from the pile to
replace the card you took from the board.
Item
Items represent possessions that you may acquire throughout your life. Usually, on each Item there are multiple
options on how much money to spend on it, each one with its own reward.
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Item's Name
Level's Name
Level's Cost
Level's Rewards
Level's Number
Level's Upkeep Cost
Level's Upkeep Reward
Item Indicator
When you take an Item in front of you, place a black cube on the level of your choice, pay the cost listed on it and gain
the corresponding reward. Some levels, usually the higher ones, also have an upkeep cost. This is a cost that you will
have to pay at the beginning of each round, during the Upkeep phase. When you do, you will be getting an upkeep
reward as well. Later in the game, you may upgrade your item to a higher level ( P See 'Card Actions' on page 12).
Example: John decides to buy a car. He puts his Hourglass marker in the Spend action space and takes the Car Item
in front of him. He decides to go for a Family Car, the second level on the card. He pays 4 coins, places a black cube
on that part of the card and gains 1 Influence, 1 STH and 2 LTH.
Next round (and every round after that), during the Upkeep phase, he will have to pay another 3 coins and that will
provide him with another 1 LTH.
Items do not take one of the 3 slots in front of you - there is no limit to the number of Items you can have.
Activity
Activities are, as the name implies, activities that you can spend money on. They work similarly to the Items except they
don't have an upkeep cost.
Activity's Name
Level's Name
Level's Cost
Level's Rewards
Level's Number
Activity Indicator
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Example: Anna wants to go to a concert. She places her Hourglass marker on the Spend action space, takes the
Concert Activity from the board and places it in front of her. She can only afford to go see a Local Band (first level)
so she pays 1 coin and gets 2 Creativity and 1 STH.
Activities do not take one of the 3 slots in front of you - there is no limit to the number of Activities you can have.
 Get Job
When you perform this action, take one of the available Jobs on the board, pay its hiring cost, gain
its reward and place it in front of you. Do not draw a new card to replace it on the board.
Job cards are double-sided with a different name and illustration on each side but same values.
When you take a new Job in front of you, turn the card according to your preference.
Job's Name
Job's Level
Job's Type
Job's Upkeep Cost
Job's Upkeep Reward
Promotion's Cost
Job's Reward
Job's Hiring Cost
Promotion's Reward
Example: Mary is looking for a job and realizes she has a lot of Influence she can use. She places her Hourglass
marker on the Get Job action space, takes the 'Event Coordinator' Job (a L1 Social Job) from the board and places
it in front of her. She pays the hiring cost of 4 Influence and immediately gets 6 Coins.
Next round, during the Upkeep phase (and every round after that), she will have to spend 1 Hourglass marker and
another 2 Influence, which will get her 6 more coins.
There are 3 different types of Jobs: Science Jobs, Art Jobs and Social Jobs. For each type, there are 3 different levels of
available Jobs (L1, L2 and L3). You may take whichever type and level you want as long as you can cover its hiring cost
(that is, you are not required to get a L1 Job first before getting a L2 one).
Getting a Job allows you to have a steady income every round but requires time and a certain amount of resources
from you, in order to sustain it: Each Job has an upkeep cost that needs to be paid in the Upkeep phase of each round
and doing so, will give you the listed amount of money. If you are unable or unwilling to provide the upkeep cost, then
you are fired: Discard the card without getting any reward, get 1 Stress and lose 1 STH.
You are only allowed to have one Job at the same time. Should you at any point take another Job, the previous one is
immediately discarded (without however, any penalty).
Jobs take one of the 3 slots in front of you. Thus, if you already have 3 or more Projects and Partners (combined) when
you get a Job, you get 1 Stress.
Each Job also has a Promotion cost on it. This can be used to get the next level Job of the same type ( P See 'Card Actions'
on page 12).
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 Start Relationship
You use this action to start a new relationship with a Partner.
Partner's Name
Level's Name
Partner's Upkeep Cost
Partner's Upkeep Reward
Level's Rewards
Partner's Requirement
In order to start a new relationship, take one of the available Partners on the board and place it in front of you.
Do not draw a new card to replace the card you took from the board. Then, place a black cube on the Date part of the
card as a reminder and gain the rewards from that level. Partner cards are double-sided with a male version of the same
person on one side and a female on the other. When you take a new Partner in front of you, turn the card according to
your preference.
Example: John is looking for his other half in the game so he decides to go on a date. He places his Hourglass
marker on the Start Relationship action space, takes Martha from the board and places her in front of him, putting
a black cube on the Date level as a reminder. He immediately gains 1 Knowledge and 2 Creativity.
Partners take one of the three “slots” in front of you. Thus, if your ongoing Projects and Job are 3 or more when you get
a Partner, you get 1 Stress.
You are allowed to have more than one Partner at the same time. Ηowever, it is quite stressful to maintain more than
one relationship at the same time, so if you take an additional Partner in front of you, you get 1 Stress. Additionally,
during the Upkeep phase, for each Partner you have in front of you beyond the first, you get 1 Stress.
Relationships can be developed and advanced to a higher level ( P See 'Card Actions' on page 12).
 Overtime
When performing this action, you try to find time to do more things in your life but at a considerable
cost to your health. Get 2 Hourglass markers of your color and 2 Stress. You may not perform this
action if taking 2 Stress would cause your Stress Indicator to go beyond the end of the track.
At the end of the round, return the 2 Hourglass markers you took.
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 Rest
When performing this action you take a break from everyday’s tasks and get some
rest. Take your Stress Indicator and move it 2 spaces to the left.
However, if that would cause you to move to a different-colored section on the track,
you remain on the first space of your current section. The only way to move to a section
on the left of the one you are currently in, is by getting a Good Health (
) icon.
Performing this action more than once in the same round, does not give you any Stress.
3. Card actions
The cards in front of the players provide them with additional available actions, different from the ones on the board. These
actions may be performed by the players as normal during their turn by placing their Hourglass marker on the corresponding
card. A player does not get Stress if he uses the same Card Action more than once in the same round.
Advance a Basic Project
A player can use a Card Action to advance one of his Basic Projects to the next level from the one he is currently in. He
pays the resources in its cost, moves the black cube to the next level and gets the corresponding reward. In case an
additional Hourglass marker is required, it must also be provided and is placed on the card.
Please note that a player may only advance to the next level from the one he is currently in. Even if he has the necessary
resources, he may not complete a later level, nor can he complete again a previously completed level.
Example: Anna already has the 'Learn Cooking' Project in front of her at L2. She wants to advance it so, in her turn,
she places one of her Hourglass markers on the card and pays 3 Knowledge. She then gets 2 Creativity and 2 LTH
and the black cube is moved to the 3rd level.
When a player completes the 4th level of a card (L4) he has fully completed the project. He gains the rewards of that
level and then sets aside the card - it no longer takes a slot in front of him. The Hourglass markers on top of the card are
placed in the "Spent Time" space on the board.
Upgrade an Item / Repeat an Activity
A player who has an Item in his possession can use a Card Action to upgrade it and buy one of its next levels. He pays
that level's cost, moves the black cube on its row and gets the corresponding reward.
Similarly, a player can use a Card Action to perform a higher level of an Activity he has in front of him. He pays that level's
cost, moves the black cube on its row and gets the corresponding reward. In case an additional Hourglass marker is
required in the cost, it is also placed on the card.
In both cases, a player may choose to upgrade to any of the next levels directly but he may never choose a lower level
than the one he is on. Keep in mind also, that in case of an item, a higher level usually means a higher upkeep cost as
well.
Example: John has a Boardgame Collection at the first level (Shelf) and wants to upgrade it to the third level
(Room). He places one of his Hourglass markers on the card and pays 6 coins. He moves the black cube on the third
level and gets 4 Knowledge, 5 Creativity and 1 LTH. At next round's Upkeep phase (and every round after that) he
will also have to pay 3 coins and get 1 additional LTH.
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Get a Promotion
A player having a Job may get a Promotion and move to the next level of the same Job type. This allows him to get the
new Job easier than he normally would while also gaining LTH in the process. In order for a Promotion to happen, the
next level Job from the same type as the one he already has must be available on the board. The player then spends
one of his Hourglass markers (it is put in the Spent Time space on the board), pays the resources listed in the Promotion
cost and gains the corresponding rewards, one of which is getting the next level Job from the board and placing it in
front of him - the previous Job is discarded without any penalty. The player does not gain the new Job’s reward when
he gets it through a Promotion. He just gets the Promotion rewards listed on the previous Job.
Example: Mary works as a 'Civil Servant' (a L1 Social Job). During this round, the 'HR Executive' Job (L2 Social Job)
is revealed on the board. She decides to go for a promotion in order to increase her income. She spends one
Hourglass marker (putting it on the Spent Time space on the board), 2 Knowledge and 4 Influence. She then gains
3 coins (her Promotion bonus) and 3 LTH. She also takes the 'HR Executive' Job from the board and places it in front
of her, discarding the previous 'Civil Servant' Job.
She doesn’t get any additional coins from the new Job at this point. Next round however (and every round after
that as long as she can keep paying the upkeep cost), she will be getting 11 coins in the Upkeep phase.
Level 3 Jobs cannot be promoted but have the option of Retirement instead. In order for a player to retire, he spends
1 Hourglass marker, pays the resources listed in the Retirement cost and gains the corresponding rewards. From that
point onwards, the Job no longer takes one of the player's "slots" in front of him. It is just kept nearby (with a black cube
on top of the Retirement space as a reminder) and provides the upkeep reward each following round. However, if that
player gets another Job afterwards, the retired Job is discarded and he no longer gains its upkeep rewards.
Develop a Relationship
In order to advance a relationship you already have, you must meet your Partner’s requirements - these are listed on
the level you want to advance to. If you don’t meet those requirements then you cannot perform the action. Also, you
may only advance to the next level from the one you are currently on - you cannot go directly from “Date” to “Raise
Family”.
When you advance to a new level, move the black cube to that part of the card and take the corresponding reward.
However, having a relationship at a higher level, requires commitment on your part: Each Partner card has an upkeep
cost listed that you will need to pay during the Upkeep phase and doing so, will gain you the listed resources. If you are
unable or unwilling to provide the upkeep cost, then the relationship is broken: Discard the card without getting any
reward, get 1 Stress and lose 1 STH.
Example: John sees that things are going well with Martha so he wants to have a full relationship with her.
He checks the requirement on her part and sees that she wants him to have at least 5 Influence. He currently
has 6 Influence in front of him so he meets that requirement (he does not have to spend them - he is only required to
have them). He places his Hourglass marker on Martha's card and moves the black cube to the Relationship level.
He then gets 1 Knowledge, 2 Creativity and 1 STH.
In order to work, the relationship requires time, so next round (and every round after that), during the Upkeep
phase, John will have to spend 1 Hourglass marker. Doing so will provide him with 1 Knowledge, 2 Creativity and
1 STH.
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4. stress track
At the beginning of the game, all players start at the first
spaceon the central section of the Stress track.
When a player takes Stress, he moves his Stress Indicator one
space to the right. If that causes him to move to a differentcolored section of the Stress track, it means that the player’s
health has deteriorated and from now on he will be getting
less Hourglass markers during the Upkeep phase.
If a player at any time in the game, takes Stress that causes his Indicator to move beyond the last space on the track,
then that player's life came to an end - the round is immediately over for him and he doesn't participate in any future
rounds.
There are 3 ways for a player to reduce his Stress:
yy Rest: When performing the Rest action, a player moves his Stress Indicator up to 2 spaces to the left, always remaining
on the same-colored section. If he is already on the first space in a section, Rest has no effect on him.
yy Relax:
Some cards give the player 1 Relax. When a player gets it, he moves his Stress Indicator 1 space to
the left, as long as he stays on the same-colored section. If he already is at the first space in a section, Relax has no
effect on him.
yy Good Health:
Some cards give the player 1 Good Health. When that happens, the player takes his Stress
Indicator and moves it one section to the left, remaining on the same relative space (i.e. if he is in the second
space at the central section, he moves to the second space of the section to the left. Ιf he is in the third space of
the turquoise-colored section, he will go to the second space of the light-green section). Next round, he will get 1
additional Hourglass marker during the Upkeep phase.
Example: During the game, John has taken Stress twice.
He wants to lower it, so he gets an Item that gives him a Relax icon.
That moves his Stress Indicator one space to the left.
Later in the game, he wants to lower his Stress even more. He takes
on the 'Healthy Eating' Project that provides a Good Health at the
4th level and goes on to complete it. That means he takes his Stress
Indicator and moves it in the middle space of the section to the left
(turquoise-colored).
5. entering the old age
The 6th round of the game, marks the beginning of the Old Age period in the players’ lives. When that time comes,
some changes happen:
yy The Overtime action space is no longer available. Place an 'Unavailable Action' token on top of it as a reminder.
yy All players get Stress. The exact amount is listed on the Round track, at the top of the current round.
This Stress that the players get becomes higher in each round. Unless a player has done something to improve his
health, when the second Old Age round starts, the extra Stress will cause his marker to move beyond the end of the
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track and as a result he will pass away. When that happens, the player will no longer participate in the rounds.
Even if someone improves his health, entering the last round in the Old Age, will give him so much Stress he will
probably pass away. In the rare case that a player manages to enter the third Old Age and still be alive, he plays the
round as normal and dies at the end of it.
6. Short Term Happiness Track
This track marks the players’ Short Term Happiness (STH).
Each player starts at the central space of the track. During the
game, various cards and actions will affect your STH. When
you gain STH, move your Indicator one space to the right and
when you lose STH, move it one space to the left.
At the end of every round, all Indicators move back to the central space of the track.
Short Term Happiness provides 3 benefits in the game:
yy It is used to determine the First Player for the next round. At the end of a round, the player with the highest STH,
gets the First Player token and plays first in the next round. In case of a tie, the player among those tied furthest
from the current First Player (going clockwise) gets the token.
yy When you take or advance a Project (of any type) you may pay 1 less resource of your choice (Knowledge, Creativity
or Influence) for each STH you have. This doesn’t reset the STH - the bonus can be used in any number of Project levels
you complete during the same round. On the other hand, if you have negative STH, you have to pay additional
resources when taking or advancing Projects: You pay 1 resource of your choice for each point of negative STH you
have (i.e. if you are at -2 STH, you have to pay 2 additional resources).
yy If at any time during your turn, you are unhappy with the cards that are available on the board, before performing
any action you may lose 1 STH and refresh one of the 4 rows (Projects, Items - Activities, Jobs, Partners): Discard
all the cards in the row and replace them with new ones (in case of Jobs & Partners draw only as many as were
discarded). You may do this any number of times, but not after you have performed your action for the turn.
Example: During this round, Anna has bought 2 Items that give her 1 STH each so she has moved her Indicator 2
spaces to the right. Later in the round, she wants to complete the next level on one of her Projects. Normally that
would require her to spend 1 Knowledge and 2 Influence. However, due to her place on the STH track, she gets to
pay 2 resources less, so she gets to complete the level by paying either 1 Knowledge or 1 Influence.
If at any time you take (or lose) so much STH that it causes you to move out of the track, then you stay at the last space
and you gain (or lose) LTH instead.
7. Discarding Cards
If at any time during the Action phase you want to stop having a card in front of you (whatever it is - Project, Item,
Job or Partner) you may discard it but you will get 1 Stress and you will lose 1 STH.
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8. game end
The Game ends when all players have died. You then perform the following:
yy Inheritance: When you die, you pass on to your loved ones your most valuable experiences and possessions. For
every 5 resources of the same type and for every 5 money that you died with, get 1 LTH.
yy Life Goals: Check the Life Goals that were drawn at the beginning of the game and apply the LTH bonus to the
players that achieved them. A player may achieve multiple Life Goals but each Life Goal may only be achieved by
one player - if there is a tie, no player gets the bonus.
The winner of the game is the player with the most Long Term Happiness! Congratulations on living a great life!
Sit back and enjoy the life you lived, making sure to narrate it colorfully to the other players. In case of a tie, the player
among those tied with the most cards gathered during the game is the winner.
4. SOLO GAME
To play a game of The Pursuit of Happiness solo, do the following:
yy Set Up the game as a 2-player game.
yy Instead of drawing 2 Life Goals, draw 3 and keep them next to you.
On the bottom of each card there is an instruction on what you need to perform
in order to achieve that Life Goal (ignore the instruction at the top of the card).
Solo Game
Instruction
To win a Solo Game you need to achieve all three of the Life Goals and have
at least 50 LTH at the end of the game.
5. credits
Lead Designers: David Chircop
Adrian Abela
Additional Design & Developer: Vangelis Bagiartakis
Illustrator: Panayiotis Lyris
Artipia Games
1 Profiti Ilia str.
Aghia Paraskevi
15341 Athens
www.artipiagames.com Greece
Graphic Designers: Spyros Alvertis
Konstantinos Kokkinis
Giota Vorgia
Production Supervisor: Konstantinos Kokkinis
Rules Proofreading: Lines J. Hutter
Stronghold Games
17 Sunflower Road
Somerset
NJ 08873
www.strongholdgames.com USA
Note: The Pursuit of Happiness is a product of fiction. Any relation to actual names or characters is purely coincidental.
© 2015 David Chircop - Adrian Abela
© 2016 Artipia Games. All rights reserved
Should you have any comments or questions, please contact us at [email protected]
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